Namur Citadel, 1695: A Case Study in Allied Siege Tactics

Abstract

The alternative to Vauban’s slow and relatively bloodless sapping — ‘efficiency’ — involved the ‘vigour’ of crude but quick attacks over open ground coupled with very heavy artillery fire. Sieges of Mainz, Bonn, and Namur town by members of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV were, however, neither ‘vigorous’ nor ‘efficient’. Coehoorn’s ‘new method’ at the siege of Namur citadel in 1695 was novel in the concentration of firepower against a small section of defences artfully chosen as part of an assault plan. Perceptions of his success were inflated: ultimately his plan proved too complex to put into practice, and ‘vigour’ took the citadel.